


december.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: i refuse to admit there was a beach divorce (aka all my charles/erik fics) [75]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe – College/University, Alternate Universe – Modern Setting, Alternate Universe – Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe – No Powers, Blizzards & Snowstorms, December writing challenge, Exams, First Meetings, Gay Character, Gay Male Character, Getting to Know Each Other, Hot Chocolate, Inspired by Music, M/M, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Short One Shot, Studying, Tumblr Prompt, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21789970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: December, come to meI hope I can seeYou're not just in dreamsor:  Charles is desperate for someone to use his flashcards to quiz him for his final exam.  He heads to the campus's central cafeteria in hopes of finding someone and he finds that cute guy who works at the coffee shop he frequents, and he learns that his name is Erik.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Series: i refuse to admit there was a beach divorce (aka all my charles/erik fics) [75]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1202509
Kudos: 24
Collections: December Writing Challenge - 2019





	december.

**Author's Note:**

> happy December from the artist formerly known as porcelainsimplicity. 'tis still me, just a different username.
> 
> Day 14 of my December writing challenge. Prompt by veronicabunchwrites on Tumblr.
> 
> Day 14 prompt: I'm ready to pull my hair out because of winter finals when you offer me a free hot cocoa if I use your flashcards to help quiz you for your exams.  
> Day 14 title song: December by Norah Jones

As Charles walked through the snow on his way to the campus's central cafeteria, he decided that he was absolutely a motherfucking idiot for majoring in biology. Yes, he wanted to be a geneticist, and yes, that meant he had to study all this shit, but with finals rapidly approaching and the terror that came along with that happening, he wanted nothing more than to never study a motherfucking thing related to biology again. 

His Anatomy 302 final was in three days and he was ridiculously unprepared. He'd made flashcards for himself so that he could try to remember all of the terms and their meanings that he was going to need to have memorized for the final, but he was having a difficult time finding someone to actually quiz him. He was lucky to have a single but that meant there was no roommate to ask, and all of his friends were in the middle of studying for their finals and he didn't think interrupting them would be a very friendly thing to do. So he had no one to quiz him, and that was why he was walking through this snowstorm to the central cafeteria. There had to be someone in there that could quiz him, even if he had to bribe them with something like hot cocoa to make it happen.

**********

Erik wanted to tear his hair out. He was a history major and he was loving every class that he took that was part of that path, but he'd had the brilliant idea to sign up for the poetry class that was offered because his mother loved poems, and now he was going to fail his final exam because the class was more of a fucking headache than surprising his mother with his knowledge was worth. He had a list of poems in front of him, he knew that he needed to memorize their names and who wrote them for this fucking exam, but he was having absolutely no luck doing it. He should have taken an entirely different class for his English credit.

He'd run out of something to drink about three hours ago, and while he'd have really like to have gotten another from the food lines, he knew that he couldn't because he was broke as fuck. He had a job at a coffee shop near campus and had just received his paycheck four days ago, but he'd made that stupid motherfucking bet with Sebastian, and of course, Emma had to agree to go on that date with him, and so that meant he had to pay up. Erik wasn't one who didn't make good on his bets, so he'd handed practically his entire paycheck over to Sebastian and now he didn't have any idea how he was going to eat for the next two weeks until he got paid again.

Maybe he could convince his parents to send him a little bit of money just to get him by until he got paid again. He'd have to ask them when he called tomorrow morning, but for now, he needed to focus on these motherfucking poems.

Erik wanted to scream.

**********

Charles shook the snow out of his hair when he entered the building, walking in the direction of the cafeteria. It might be ten o'clock at night and it might be snowing outside, but he hoped that someone was inside that cafeteria. And if there wasn't, he was just going to sit there until there was, no matter how long that took. He needed someone to quiz him and he didn't care what lengths he had to go to so he could make that happen.

When he walked into the cafeteria, he scanned the room with his eyes before they settled on a man sitting at a table near the back, and he breathed a sigh of relief. There was someone there. As Charles headed in his direction, he realized that the man was the really cute guy that worked at the coffee shop he frequented, and he was excited to finally be able to speak to him.

Erik jumped when the chair next to his was pulled out, someone sitting down next to him. He turned to look at him and saw the really cute guy that frequented the coffee shop, and he smiled before he could stop himself. “Charles.”

Charles grinned. “So you do remember my name. Excellent. May I have yours?”

“Erik,” he offered, turning back to his list. “Do you need something?”

“I need someone to take my flashcards and quiz me,” Charles said seriously. “I cannot find anyone to do that. I was hoping there was someone in here that could, and you are the only one in here so I am wondering if you would do it. I'll buy you hot cocoa or something.”

Erik knew that he needed to keep studying but the thought of having something to drink took over his brain. “I would love hot cocoa.”

Charles put his backpack on the table and unzipped it, grabbing his flashcards and handing them over to Erik. “Great. I'll go get the hot cocoa and you look through those. I'll be right back.”

Erik nodded as Charles stood up and walked away. He started looking through the flashcards and sighed when he saw all the terms written on them. He had no idea what Charles was majoring in, but it was vastly different to his, clearly. Erik had no idea how to pronounce half of this stuff, so he wasn't sure how he was supposed to quiz Charles on them.

Charles returned a couple of minutes later with two large hot cocoas, and Erik reached for his and took a large sip, ignoring the way it burned in the inside of his mouth and instead focusing on the fact that it was soothing his dry throat. Fuck, he'd really needed something to drink.

Charles was smiling at him when Erik set the cup down, and Erik couldn't help himself from thinking that Charles's smile was something he'd really like to see a lot. Before he let his mind travel down that train of thought too much, he looked down at the flashcards. “What class are these cards are for?”

“My anatomy class,” Charles said, groaning. “It's a fucking nightmare. I suggest you never take it.”

“Anatomy? So you're majoring in biology?”

“Biology with an emphasis on genetics,” Charles said. “I really should have picked something else but I've always wanted to be a geneticist so it was always going to be this major. What are you majoring in?”

“History,” Erik said. “My parents think it's going to be an absolutely worthless degree but I'm really excited about it. I've already got an internship at the local historical society and I'm hoping I can parlay that into a job once I graduate. A job might shut them up about how useless they think this degree is.”

“At least your parents seem to care what kind of degree you're pursuing. I think if you ask my mother what I'm majoring in she would be surprised to learn that I'm in college,” Charles said, shaking his head. “But enough about that. Will you please quiz me?”

Erik nodded and looked down at the first flashcard. “You'll have to forgive me if I pronounce these incorrectly.”

“Don't worry about that,” Charles said. “I'll probably be able to figure out what you're talking about.”

“Then let's start,” Erik said, asking the question on the first flashcard. 

Charles answered that question correctly, and then he answered every other question correctly, and Erik couldn't understand why he had been so desperate for someone to quiz him. It was obvious that he knew this stuff already. 

“Thank you so much,” Charles said, accepting the flashcards back. “I am so terribly worried about this final. I absolutely cannot fail it.”

“Well, considering you knew all the answers, I'm pretty sure that you won't,” Erik said, turning back to his list of poems. “But I, on the other hand, am going to fail this fucking final I'm studying for.”

“What is it for?” Charles asked.

“Dr. Grey's poetry class,” Erik said. “I took it so that I could talk to my mother about poems since she loves them so much, but I am regretting that decision mightily at the moment.”

“I took that class in the spring semester last year,” Charles said, smiling when Erik looked over at him. “What are you struggling with?”

“The fucking list of poems I have to have memorized for the exam,” Erik said, turning back to it. “Seventy-five fucking poems and poets that I need to remember and I can't figure out a way to get me to remember them at all.”

“Would you like me to show you the system I came up with?” Charles offered. “I'd be more than happy to.”

“That would be amazing,” Erik said, smiling at him. “Anything that will help me get this shit memorized.”

“Then let me see your list.”

Erik shoved the list over in front of Charles and Charles began to talk him through the way he had memorized the poems. Erik found the system so much easier than anything he'd already tried, and by the time Charles was done explaining it, Erik thought that he might actually be able to remember them when he sat down to take the exam.

“Would you like me to quiz you on them?” Charles asked. “And then you can quiz me again. I'll buy you another hot cocoa if you want.”

“Another hot cocoa would be great. I am so broke right now it's ridiculous.”

“Then I'll be back with another one and we can quiz each other.”

Erik nodded as Charles got up, staring down at the list of poems and running through them in his mind again. He was pretty sure that he didn't have them all memorized yet, but maybe if Charles would agree to keep helping him then he might. 

Charles came back with their hot cocoa and then picked up the list, smiling at Erik before beginning to quiz him. Erik missed some like the thought he would, but he got more right than he'd been anticipating. When they were done, Charles handed him the flashcards again. Erik thought it was ridiculous that Charles thought he needed to keep being quizzed about this stuff, but he asked the questions anyway, stumbling over the pronunciation of the terms even though Charles had told him how to pronounce them the first time they'd done this. Every fifth question, however, was a question about Charles himself, Erik really wanting to learn more about him. Charles just grinned at him and answered every one and by the time they were done with the flashcards, Erik felt like he had a real connection to Charles.

Once quizzing Charles was done, Erik was anticipating that he'd get up and leave, but Charles stayed there, grabbing the list of poems again and beginning to quiz Erik. And just as Erik had done to him, Charles asked a personal one every fifth question. Erik smiled and answered every one and by the time that he was done with the poems, Charles felt like he had a real connection to Erik. After that, they began to talk about their lives instead of their studies. But they didn't forget their studies, quizzing each other four more times until Erik got all the poems right and Charles still got all of his flashcards right. Erik found himself really relaxed in Charles's presence and wanting to know more about him, but he wasn't sure how to ask him if they could get to know each other even more. 

Charles was thinking the same thing, but when he looked out the window and saw how much heavier the snow was falling, he knew that he should probably get back to his dorm but he didn't want to stop talking to Erik. Then he glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly three a.m. and he decided that he needed to get back to his dorm. “I really need to go,” Charles said, sighing. “The snowstorm seems to have gotten worse.”

Erik looked over at the window and sighed too. “Fuck, and I've got to walk back to my dorm at the other end of the campus too.”

“Mine's a bit closer than that,” Charles said. “But it's still quite the walk.”

Charles stood up and started to get his stuff together, and Erik did the same. Charles watched him and he decided that letting Erik just walk out of his life was probably a big mistake. “Do you want to exchange phone numbers?” he asked. 

Erik grinned at him. “I think that's a great idea.”

Charles noted Erik's excitement at the prospect and just asked. “Would you be interested in having dinner some night once finals are over and we feel like we can breathe again?”

Erik's grin got wider. “I'd love to have dinner with you, Charles.”

Charles fished his phone out of his pocket and handed it over. “Put your number in there.”

Erik handed over his phone. “You do the same.”

They programmed their numbers into each other's phones and then gave them back, walking out of the cafeteria and to the building's door together. After establishing that Erik needed to go to the left and Charles to the right, they said goodbye and headed out into the snow. Erik had barely made it to the next building before he got a notification of a text message, and he clicked through to it to see it was from Charles.

_Want to study together in the cafeteria again tomorrow night? I'll buy you all the hot cocoa you want._

Erik let out a small laugh and sent a message back. 

_I would love to. That's where I go to study all the time anyway. My roommate is an annoying asshole that almost always kicks me out so that he can bring a girl back there._

Erik got a message back almost immediately.

_I am so lucky that I don't have a roommate to do that to me. What time should we meet up then?_

Erik shook his head and answered him.

_You have a single? You lucky bastard. I'll be in the cafeteria from about seven, so any time after that works for me._

Charles responded quickly. 

_I have class until eight but I will be there after that. I will see you then._

Erik sent one final message and then shoved the phone back in his pocket.

_I can't wait._

As he walked through the snow back to his dorm, Erik couldn't help but think that studying in the central cafeteria to avoid his motherfucking roommate had paid some dividends on something other than studying. It had only been one night, but Charles was amazing, and this felt like the start of something special.

As Charles walked through the snow back to his dorm, he couldn't help but think that his idea to go to the central cafeteria was a good one. Not only did he find someone to quiz him, but he'd found someone that could be a whole lot more. He knew that it had only been one night, but Erik was amazing, and he felt like this could be the start of something special.


End file.
